


Confessional

by lobsterkaijin



Category: Dr. STONE (Anime), Dr. STONE (Manga)
Genre: Discord: The Kingdom of Shipping (Dr. STONE), F/M, Feelings Realization, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:41:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26253547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lobsterkaijin/pseuds/lobsterkaijin
Summary: Taiju's been in love with Yuzuriha for seven years.He's been in love with more than just her, too.It just took him a little longer to realize that.
Relationships: Ogawa Yuzuriha/Ooki Taiju, Ooki Taiju/Shishiou Tsukasa
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	Confessional

Taiju wakes up to sniffling. Beside him is Senkū, curled up and shaking so minutely that Taiju would miss it if the stars didn’t hit the sleeping form just right.

“Senkū?”

No answer.

He reaches over and places a hand on Senkū’s shoulder, and the shaking stops, though the sniffling remains. Oh! It’s in his sleep… There comes a time when a man must cross their best friend’s boundaries to keep them safe and secure, and this is one of those times. Senkū is in desperate need of a hug, so it’s a good thing Taiju is here!

He’s about to enact some heavy duty care when Senkū mumbles a sleepy “ _Tsukasa,_ ” and Taiju stiffens. Did he just say—? That guy really is something, giving motivational speeches, solving mysteries, talking about building a boat like a real Chief would, all while hurting on the inside. Not letting his feelings stop him from reaching for the stars, that’s one of the many reasons why Taiju likes Senkū so much!

That does something though. He’s not the only one who’s pretending. Taiju turns and lays back down. Once again, he struggles to go to sleep. The tightness in his chest doesn’t go away when morning comes.

Once the announcement was made, that they would compete to see who could come up with the best ship design to sail the new world, everyone got straight to work, leaving Taiju to face his shortcomings, as he is not much of an engineer or artist (or thinker, for that matter). He attempted it, he really did, rushing excitedly to put pen to paper for the sake of impressing Senkū, but he ended up staring at the page until he grew restless, and since they were given a day or two to do it, he needed to find something else to occupy his time or else he’d be driven crazy.

While the villagers worked, Taiju spent his time gathering up the pieces of the statues Tsukasa shattered. Just as expected, his coordinates were perfect, and Taiju managed to salvage every last bit. Some of them were completely destroyed, but some were just beheaded, and Taiju couldn’t account for the erratic pattern, except that some were closer to their original settlement on the beach, while the ones further out were less violently done away with. Brows furrowed, Taiju wonders if it’s _because_ it was close to their former camp. These poor statues didn’t deserve to have Tsukasa’s emotions taken out on them. Every scene is gruesome. These were all people, and to take their lives so easily… Taiju stops the train of thought before it can derail. That was different. These people can be saved, they’re not really dead, and Tsukasa remembered where every statue was, which means he wanted to save them!

That’s right. They’ll be put back together and revived, and it’ll be like nothing happened! Yuzuriha will be happy knowing that she can save all these people. Just imagining the smile on her face gets his blood pumping! Man, she’s so cute when she’s determined! And when she’s really focused, she’s just so mesmerizing. He always has a hard time stealing his gaze away from her steady hands and fluid movements, not like he wants to. He could live in his dream world forever if it means he could stare at her forever too.

Until he realizes the hands he’s seeing in his head aren’t Yuzuriha’s as she threads a needle, but Tsukasa’s as he guts a fish. The images collide with one another just as he collides with a tree and is thrown backwards, clutching his bleeding nose. What was that?! Why did Tsukasa suddenly overtake his vision? He collects himself and all the fragments he dropped, and rushes back to the village.

Senkū is too busy to entertain him, so he sits with Yuzuriha and sifts through the rubble. They made small talk at first, but now they sit in silence, illuminated by candles and the setting sun from the doorway. Can she hear his heart beating? Does she know it beats for her? 

At some point she shuffles a little closer to help Taiju with his pile. She doesn’t mind that he doesn’t work as fast as she does, or that he struggles with the smaller pieces, and she rubs soothing circles into his back when he tears up at seeing an elderly face staring back up at him, reminded of his grandparents. Whenever she tries to get closer than that, to hold his hand, lay her head on his shoulder, he jumps, and can’t even face her.

As focused as he is, his shoulders are heavy, and his eyes drift to the outside. There’s a tenseness to him that cannot be accounted for by his romantic inclinations towards her. Senkū was just as tense when she brought him lunch, too. Her boys are so smart and strong and wonderful, and she loves them, but they can be so stupid sometimes.

“You can go now, Taiju.”

“What? Are you sure?”

She nods. “Officer Yo said he’d stop by and help me, anyways, so it’s not a problem. We’ll have enough hands between the two of us.”

“O-Oh, okay. See you, Yuzuriha.” He hovers at the door, leaving when she doesn’t say anything else. 

Yuzuriha sighs, and curls up with her arms around her knees. She could hear his heart beating louder than ever before, but this is the first time she’s wondered if it’s still beating for her.

Dusk settles quietly over the village.

Tossing and turning, Taiju decides he’s not going to get any sleep that night, and sits up to watch over Senkū. He seems fine tonight, which is better than when he was crying before, but also Taiju wishes he wasn’t the only one suffering sleeplessness, and could talk out his feelings with someone, ramble until the sun comes up about everything and nothing. Filling his head with nonsense from his mouth means his brain won’t do it for him. Actually, he’s not sure Senkū would put up with him talking for hours, and he wouldn’t dream of waking Yuzuriha, despite her telling him over and over how much she liked listening to him talk. Then he remembers. Before they’d revived Yuzuriha, there was another person that sat to listen to him talk.

Taiju goes to visit Tsukasa.

Mirai is asleep next to the freezer, protecting her older brother even in her sleep. How many times did he do the same for her? Could she ever repay him? They’re cut from the same cloth; it doesn’t matter if she can, only that she’s trying, but in her trying, she’s bent herself at a painful angle. Some time ago, her lower half must’ve slid to the floor. Because she’s clutching the door so tightly, her body remained upright, such that all her weight is in her knees, which are twisted in the kind of angle that has Taiju wondering if she’s dreaming of pretzels. That’s going to hurt in the morning. Wincing, Taiju lifts her as gently as he can manage and lays her on the ground. She sighs, mumbling Tsukasa’s name, and Taiju’s heart aches. That’s what they’re _all_ dreaming about.

He takes a seat at the head of the freezer. Rubbing his neck sheepishly, Taiju fumbles to find something to talk about. The weather? No, he can’t see the weather from inside that freezer. They used to sit on the beach around a little campfire, and it wasn’t so hard then. What would a sleeping man like to hear? He bows forward, letting go of his breath.

The words come on their own eventually.

“You called me strong once, but I’ve never felt weaker than in this moment. I can’t be happy with the way things turned out between us! I never imagined you’d switch sides like _this!_ Why did it have to _be_ like this? Why couldn’t we have stayed friends? I’m not that smart, and I don’t understand a lot of things. That’s why I leave the thinking to Senkū. Even so, even if I’m not very smart, I understand people’s feelings! I feel a whole lot, and I—” His voice cracks. “Why did you have to leave us that day on the beach?”

He wipes his eyes, but the tears keep coming. “Now it’s all I think about. Sitting around the fire and getting lost in the conversation between you and Senkū, but being happy anyways. I couldn’t wait for Yuzuriha to be revived, ‘cause then we’d both sit there looking dumb while you two would impress us with your intellect. I dreamed of us four making that beach our home. Senkū would do all the science, I’d do the farming, you’d do the hunting, and Yuzuriha would do the homemaking. It would’ve been great. We could’ve been happy. You made me happy.” 

The confession stuns him. The implications of what he said dawn on him, and his heart sinks.

Since when had he fallen for Tsukasa?


End file.
